Category Archives: Star Trek

Stardate 1531.1: Visiting Professor Crater and his wife (who, before marrying Crater, had a close relationship with McCoy), an Enterprise landing party starts to fall prey to an unknown assailant that seems to drain its victims of salt. Kirk is suspicious – and McCoy alarmed – when the Craters refuse, in spite of the threat, to evacuate their planet. The landing party returns to the Enterprise with an extra passenger – a shape shifter who can assume the shapes of Enterprise crewmembers and who has been living with Professor Crater in the guise of his late wife, whom the creature killed. The creature, in search of salt, sees the Enterprise as a promising hunting ground.

written by George Clayton Johnson
directed by Marc Daniels
music by Alexander Courage

Stardate 1533.6: Charlie, a young boy who reportedly grew up alone with only computer banks for company and teachers, is picked up by the crew of a starship and is transferred to the Enterprise for a trip to a starbase. During the trip, Charlie begins to learn more about human relationships and becomes infatuated with Yeoman Rand. When she tells him that he is too young for her, Charlie is enraged and begins to do away with members of the crew who he feels have been condescending to him – including Captain Kirk.

teleplay by D.C. Fontana
story by Gene Roddenberry
directed by Lawrence Dobkin
music by Fred Steiner

Stardate 1312.4: The Enterprise is en route to the edge of the galaxy, where a barrier of energy lies that has never been penetrated. When the Enterprise reaches the barrier, it is buffeted by intense energy, injuring many on board. First Officer Mitchell and psychological observer Dr. Dehner are affected as well, and it becomes apparent that their latent ESP abilities have been activated by contact with the barrier. The crew must then contend with the rapidly strengthening super-human beings who now consider the other people on board to be an inferior species.

Notes: This is the episode that sold NBC on the idea of Star Trek after The Cage was rejected; it has been said that Where No Man Has Gone Before, being so drastically different from the episodes around it, would never have aired with the rest of the series if not for major production delays that otherwise would have meant skipping a week or airing a repeat – something considered a very bad practice early in a new series’ run. Similar delays forced Gene Roddenberry to hastily write an “envelope” script that could be shot quickly to serve as a framing story for the already-produced (and paid for) pilot; that envelope became one of the show’s most famous stories, The Menagerie. In chronological order by airdate and in production order, this – the third episode broadcast – is Scotty’s first appearance in Star Trek. Numerous holdovers from The Cage – the original uniform style, the rounded-off main viewscreen on the bridge, the gooseneck lamps – give this episode a somewhat out-of-place look, especially when aired three weeks into the show’s run.

Stardate 1704.2: A member of a landing party investigating the ruins on a collapsing planet contracts an unknown infection and returns it to the Enterprise, where it spreads rapidly by touch. Lt. Riley locks himself in engineering and shuts down the engines, which may be needed to get the ship away to avoid damage from the planet’s impending destruction. Kirk slowly begins to lose control, and even Spock is affected by the infection, while the planet’s final phase of collapse begins with very little warning.

Stardate 1672.1: As a landing party surveys a planet, a transporter malfunction splits Kirk into an aggressive aspect and a timid one. The aggressive Kirk threatens the security of the ship and crew, while the passive one tries to maintain his sanity and ability to command. In the meantime, the cause of the transporter problems haven’t been determined, stranding Sulu and the team in the planet’s subfreezing night temperatures while the two sides of Kirk’s personality fight for control of the Enterprise.

Notes: Writer Richard Matheson had already contributed over a dozen scripts to The Twilight Zone, and his novel “I Am Legend” – the source of most modern zombie mythology – had already seen its first screen adaptation as The Last Man On Earth starring Vincent Price; “I Am Legend” would later be remade as The Omega Man (starring Charlton Heston) and finally under its original title in 2007 with Will Smith. Matheson also wrote for the revivals of Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits, and wrote the poorly-received miniseries adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s “The Martian Chronicles”.

Stardate 1329.1: After stealing a freighter and pushing its engines to their limits in an effort to escape the pursuing Enterprise, Harry Mudd and his cargo – three seemingly irresistable women – are recovered. Although Mudd can’t help but be suspicious, the women follow his instructions to cripple the Enterprise without any questions from the male members of the crew. The dilithium crystals powering the ship are sabotaged, and Mudd intends to force Kirk to bargain for his crew’s life when the Enterprise arrives at a dilithium mining outpost.

teleplay by Stephen Kandel
story by Gene Roddenberry
directed by Harvey Hart
music by Fred Steiner

Notes: Guest star Gene Dynarski would rack up another Trek role (Krodak in The Mark Of Gideon) before the end of the original series, and later guest starred in Star Trek: The Next Generation as a Starbase commander overseeing repairs and upgrades to Picard’s Enterprise (11001001, 1988). He also had guest roles in the 1960s Batman series, Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea, Land Of Giants, and The X-Files, as well as an appearance in Close Encounters Of The Third Kind.

Stardate 2712.4: The Enterprise is en route to visit Dr. Korby, a brilliant scientist working in isolation who also happens to be Nurse Chapel’s fiance. Kirk and Chapel beam down and discover that Korby has used abandoned technology left behind by an extinct civilization to create android companions for himself – one of which, an attractive and very user-friendly “girl,” arouses Chapel’s suspicions. Korby, however, has become deranged in his isolation, and wants to take over the Enterprise so he can populate the “inferior” organic universe with androids…

written by Robert Bloch
directed by James Goldstone
music by Fred Steiner

Notes: Appearing in a rare speaking role here, Vince Deadrick Sr. has been one of Hollywood’s busiest stuntmen, with credits as recent as the Pirates Of The Carribean movies. His son, Vince Deadrick Jr., is also an in-demand stuntman, and was the primary stunt double for Scott Bakula throughout the run of Star Trek: Enterprise.

Stardate 2713.5: A remarkably Earthlike planet is the home of a human-like civilization whose entire adult population was wiped out by a virulent disease. The children remain, although their growth has been slowed down to the point that Miri – a teenage girl found by Kirk and a landing party – could easily by 300 years old. Miri develops a crush on Kirk, but at the same time reports back to a gang of unruly children who plot to kidnap the landing party, beginning with Yeoman Rand. Kirk, Rand and even Miri begin to show signs of the disease, which gives Kirk a chance to prove that the disease will eventually kill all of the children – but they are unwilling to admit they need help or the “stuffy” advice of an adult.

Stardate 2715.1: Kirk and ship’s psychiatrist Dr. Noel visit a Federation mental hospital as the Enterprise delivers supplies. But one cargo container beamed aboard the ship contains an apparently insane stowaway from the facility on the planet who isn’t a patient, but the second in command of the hospital’s director, who has invented a device that can lock emotional impulses in or out of the brain permanently and is apparently used his invention without any discretion. Spock and the crew discover that Kirk and Dr. Noel are trapped on the planet, and are probably the next victims of the mind-altering machine.

Stardate 1512.2: The Enterprise encounters a glowing cube in space. When Kirk discovers that the cube will follow the ship or block its path, he orders the cube destroyed. At this point, an enormous vessel appears, and alien captain Balok declares that he will destroy the Enterprise in minutes. Kirk bluffs his way out by claiming that all Federation vessels have “corbomite” aboard, which he will detonate if Balok threatens the crew. Balok attempts to escape in an escape craft, but the Enterprise catches up and contacts the real Balok – a representative of an alien race whose members, in adulthood, look like human children. Lt. Bailey, whose emotional outbursts had been disrupting the already fatalistic attitude on the Enterprise, agrees to stay with Balok as an “exchange student” so he may learn more about the diversity of life in the galaxy.

written by Jerry Sohl
directed by Joseph Sargent
music by Fred Steiner

Stardate 3012.4: The Enterprise is summoned to Starbase 6, apparently by Captain Pike, who commanded the ship before Kirk. Commodore Mendez shows Kirk, Spock and McCoy, however, that Pike was recently paralyzed in an accident and could not have signalled the Enterprise. Spock creates false messages from Kirk and sends them to the ship, instructing the crew that Spock and Pike will beam up immediately, the Enterprise will be piloted by computer to its next destination, and that Kirk will be staying behind. Kirk and Mendez follow the Enterprise in a shuttle, which runs out of fuel when Spock refuses to slow the Enterprise down so the shuttle can come aboard. Spock finally allows Kirk to catch up and then places himself under arrest. Kirk is unable to disconnect the computer from the helm, and Spock’s court-martial begins. Spock offers, as evidence, visual records of a voyage on the Enterprise on which Spock and Pike served 13 years earlier. The bridge then informs Kirk and Mendez that the recording is being sent to the Enterprise from Talos IV – a planet that, according to Starfleet regulations, is absolutely off-limits to all vessels, punishable by death.

written by Gene Roddenberry
directed by Marc Daniels
footage from The Cage directed by Robert Butler
music by Alexander Courage

Stardate 3013.1: Spock reveals that the Keeper of Talos IV has control of the viewscreen and the evidence being presented. The screen shows the events that occurred during Pike’s visit to Talos IV in great detail, but Spock has difficulty convincing Kirk and Mendez of the validity of what they are seeing as well as the tremendous power of the Talosians. When the evidence suddenly stops, Mendez orders Kirk and Pike, the ranking officers forming Spock’s trial board, to make their verdict, and all find Spock guilty. The final part of the record of Pike’s adventure then continues, and then Commodore Mendez vanishes from the Enterprise. The Keeper himself tells Kirk that the Mendez that accompanied him in the shuttle and the trial was an illusion projected from Talos IV, and that Pike is welcome to return to the planet and be restored, as Vina was, to his former strength and health.

written by Gene Roddenberry
directed by Marc Daniels
footage from The Cage directed by Robert Butler
music by Alexander Courage

Notes: Both parts of The Menagerie used footage of the original series pilot The Cage as the visual evidence of Pike’s early mission; in truth, the framing story was hurriedly written by Gene Roddenberry and was designed to be shot quickly so the re-use of the already-produced (and already paid for) pilot episode could fill a critical gap in the schedule caused by production delays.

Stardate 2817.6: Kirk is contacted by Leighton, a friend from Kirk’s stay on the Tarsus IV colony years ago, who believes that Kodos the Executioner, the militant dictator who gave the order for scores of people to die on the colony during Kirk’s stay, is at large once more in the guise of touring Shakespearean actor Karidian, who, with his touring company, has stopped over at Leighton’s post for a performance. Kirk isn’t convinced until Leighton turns up dead, leaving Kirk and Lt. Riley the only remaining living witnesses of the Tarsus IV massacre. To investigate further, Kirk invites Karidian’s company to travel on the Enterprise to their next performance, and attempts on Kirk and Riley’s lives begin immediately.

written by Barry Trivers
directed by Gerd Oswald
music by Joseph Mullendore

Stardate 1709.1: Responding to distress calls from border outposts along the Neutral Zone between the Federation and the Romulan Star Empire, Kirk and the crew receive a final message from a Federation station reporting an attack from an invisible ship. Before the station is destroyed, it sends the Enterprise a brief view of the attacking vessel – a streamlined fighter which appears for a second when it fires. Hurrying to the scene, the Enterprise engages in battle with a Romulan Bird of Prey, armed with a cloaking device and commanded by a battle-scarred and tired commander whose crew is more eager to go into combat than he is. The Romulans, to the Enterprise crew’s amazement, bear a stunning resemblance to Vulcans, which arouses suspicion in some, including Lt. Styles, whose father died in a battle with the Romulans years ago. But as long as the Romulan ship can remain invisible, the Enterprise is at a disadvantage.

written by Paul Schneider
directed by Vincent McEveety
music by Fred Steiner

Note: The unusual similarities between Vulcans and Romulans are finally addressed in 1991 in the Next Generation Unification two-parter, in which Spock, in his 120s or older, traveled to Romulus to investigate resuming relations between the Vulcans and Romulans.

Stardate 3025.3: McCoy recommends a layover so the crew can rest from the constant strain of nonstop duty, and an earthlike but apparently uninhabited planet provides a perfect opportunity for shore leave, but when odd things begin happening on the surface, Kirk becomes suspicious. McCoy, after telling Sulu that the planet is like a setting from “Alice in Wonderland,” spots a large rabbit followed by Alice herself. Kirk runs into his old nemesis, Academy prankster Finnegan, while Sulu discovers a police revolver that he doesn’t have in his ancient firearms collection and later runs into a Samurai warrior. Mysterious tracking devices follow the crew’s actions and thoughts, and whatever they happen to be thinking of seems to become real – even if it’s a deadly threat, as McCoy discovers.

written by Theodore Sturgeon
directed by Robert Sparr
music by Gerald Fried

Stardate 2821.5: A shuttle commanded by Spock crash-lands on a savage planet where members of the shuttle crew are in immediate danger from the local life forms. The Enterprise must leave the area as soon as possible to deliver a much needed vaccine to a plague-stricken planet, and Commissioner Ferris insists that Kirk leave the Galileo crew for dead and get underway to the Enterprise’s next destination. Meanwhile, Spock faces a command situation where total logic and rationality may be of no use if the crew of the shuttle is to return to the Enterprise.

teleplay by Oliver Crawford and S. Bar-David
story by Oliver Crawford
directed by Robert Gist
music by Alexander Courage

Stardate 2124.5: The Enterprise crew discovers that the ship cannot escape orbit of a planet that doesn’t even exist on the star charts. Kirk and a landing party beam down to the surface of the mysterious planet and their captor is revealed to be the immature but powerful Trelane, who initially seems to be a student of ancient Earth history (as demonstrated by his 17th century mansion, clothes and furnishings). Kirk, discovering that Trelane’s hold on the Enterprise comes from a power far beyond 23rd century technology, must try to beat Trelane at his own game, but Trelane rewrites the rules constantly to make sure he’s winning.

Stardate 3045.6: Arriving at a Federation planet at the request of a starbase director, the Enterprise finds a devastated world with only one survivor, who reveals that any summons Kirk received to visit the planet must have been a trap. The Enterprise locates and pursues an alien vessel right past the borders of the apparently omnipotent Metrons, who halt the ensuing battle and force Kirk and the captain of the other vessel – a huge, reptilian Gorn – to settle their differences in hand-to-hand combat…a prospect which immediately leaves Kirk at a disadvantage. Should he lose, the crew of the Enterprise will be destroyed.

teleplay by Gene L. Coon
from a story by Frederic Brown
directed by Joseph Pevney
music by Alexander Courage

Notes: This episode was already in pre-production by the time the producers realized that it closely paralleled Frederic Brown’s novel “Enemy Mine”; they offered him screen credit and payment to ensure that their use of the story was above-board, and he happily accepted. “Enemy Mine” itself was later adapted into a movie.

Stardate 3113.2: Accidentally swinging around the sun into a time warp, the Enterprise’s crew recover from their turbulent journey and find themselves in Earth’s atmosphere in the 1960s over North America. Jets are dispatched to bring the “UFO” down, and one is caught in the ship’s tractor beam and begins to break apart. The pilot, Captain John Christopher, is beamed out of his plane before it disintegrates and is welcomed to the Enterprise as the crew prepares to return to the 23rd century. Kirk tells Christopher that he cannot be returned to his own time because he has seen too much of the future, but Spock discovers that Christopher will have a son who will be very important to the history of the space program and Christopher must be returned to 20th century Earth.

Stardate 2947.3: Kirk is accused of murder when the Enterprise’s records officer, Lt. Commander Finney, is apparently jettisoned during a violent ion storm which threatened the ship. Kirk insists that he gave Finney even more time than safely allowed to get out of the jettisoned ion pod, yet the Enterprise computer’s records show that Kirk discarded the pod, and Finney, while only at yellow alert when there was no sign of actual danger. Kirk challenges the findings of the computer and is court-martialed, with accusations that earlier rivalries with Finney when both were new officers caused Kirk to act maliciously – and even Kirk’s attorney, Cogley, may not be able to convince the court that the error may have been the computer’s.

teleplay by Don M. Mankiewicz and Steven W. Carabatsos
story by Don M. Mankiewicz
directed by Marc Daniels
music by Alexander Courage

Stardate 3156.2: Sulu and another crewman are investigating a primitive but ancient-Earth-like alien culture incognito, but their disguise is blown and they’re running for their lives. The Enterprise can’t beam Sulu up in time, and he is hit by a weapon on the planet which leaves him under the control of something or someone called Landru. Kirk and Spock beam down, finding the planet’s people engaged in unusual rituals, and also finding out from some of the locals that Landru has complete control over most everyone on the planet, aside from a small resistance effort. What begins as an effort to free the people on the planet becomes a matter of survival when Kirk and Spock become hunted by Landru’s “puppets.”

teleplay by Boris Sobelman
story by Gene Roddenberry
directed by Joseph Pevney
music by Alexander Courage

Stardate 3141.9: The Enterprise discovers a derelict vessel which turns out to be an Earth ship dating back to a series of wars in the 1990s in which Earth’s population was threatened by a group of genetically engineered superhuman beings. The inhabitants of the rogue ship, though they try to conceal the fact at every opportunity, are the only surviving oppressors from that war. Their leader, Khan, wishes to resume their reign of terror, beginning with a takeover of the Enterprise.

teleplay by Gene L. Coon and Carey Wilbur
story by Carey Wilbur
directed by Marc Daniels
music by Alexander Courage

Stardate 3192.1: The Enterprise visits the twin planets of Eminiar VII and Vendikar so Ambassador Fox may approach their governments about joining the Federation. When they beam down to Eminiar 7, Kirk, Spock and the rest of their landing party are informed that the Enterprise has been struck by enemy missiles and Kirk’s party, along with the rest of the crew, have been declared casualties. Investigating further, Kirk discovers that the war between the two planets is controlled by computers, which determine the damage done and the fatalities caused by the attacks, and assigns citizens to report to disintegration machines, which they do willingly. Kirk is trapped on the planet, but Ambassador Fox thinks he can remedy the situation and beams down unarmed against Scotty’s advice.

teleplay by Robert Hammer and Gene L. Coon
story by Robert Hammer
directed by Joseph Pevney
music by Alexander Courage

Stardate 3417.3: Investigating a colony whose settlers should be, but for some reason are not, threatened by radiation, Kirk and a landing party beam down to investigate. McCoy diagnoses the colonists as being in fine health and none of them wish to leave, no matter how much danger they are in. Spock, with Leila, an old acquaintance who has a crush on him, is infested by spores from a plant while examining the colony grounds. McCoy also soon falls victims to the spores, which leave their victims – even Spock – in a stupor with no desire to leave…and Kirk is left with a ship and no crew.

teleplay by D.C. Fontana
story by Nathan Butler and D.C. Fontana
directed by Ralph Serensky
music by Alexander Courage

Stardate 3196.1: A mining colony reports a number of mysterious deaths just after they successfully dig to a lower level of a planetoid believed to be uninhabited. The Enterprise arrives, and Kirk, Spock and security officers from the ship begin a hunt for whoever or whatever is responsible for the growing body count. An amorphous creature capable of burning through the indigenous rock is found to be the cause of the deaths as well as a very well-thought out sabotage of the miners’ life support systems. Through a mind-meld, Spock communicates with the being – known as the Horta – and finds that it is the last of its kind, a mother laying eggs in the tunnels and caves it builds for itself. But the humans have been discovering and destroying the eggs, and if the Horta cannot bring herself to negotiate with the miners, one party or the other faces extinction.

Stardate 3198.4: A sudden attack by the Klingons on a vulnerable neutral sector – a location of great strategic importance – puts the Enterprise on red alert, as the threat of another catastrophic war between the Klingon Empire and the Federation looms. Kirk and Spock beam down to Organia, the planet whose security is at risk due to the Klingon threat, and find that the inhabitants, who appear to be humans who have reached the medieval period of sociological and technological development, are not at all concerned that their world is currently being overrun by Klingon troops. Kirk and Spock try to conceal their identities, but fail, leaving Kirk and Klingon Captain Kor at each others’ throats – until the Organians reveal their true nature and intervene in the impending war.

Notes: This episode introduces the Klingons to Star Trek. John Colicos makes two further appearances in the role of Kor in the Deep Space Nine episodes Blood Oath and The Sword of Kahless. The first bloody war between the Klingons and the Federation is chronicled in the first season of Star Trek: Discovery, and one of its chief combatants was Kol, a member of the Klingon House of Kor; Kol’s death (Into The Forest I Go, 2017) may explain some of Kor’s warlike zeal here.

Stardate 3087.6: The Enterprise encounters brief but intense turbulence after entering orbit above an uninhabited world. Kirk leads a landing party to the surface to investigate any possible connection between the planet and the disturbance, and they find a man named Lazarus, who, though he seems healthy and normal, claims to be fighting his own equivalent from a universe of antimatter. Lazarus proves to be a threat to the Enterprise’s security, and the increasing blasts of turbulence seem to confirm Lazarus’s story that he has a powerful enemy in another dimension.

Notes: Robert Brown had to take the role of Lazarus on very short notice; actor John Barrymore was originally contracted to play the part, but failed to show up on the shooting dates, earning a rare censure from the Screen Actors’ Guide and putting himself out of work for months.

Stardate 3134.0: McCoy accidentally receives an overdose of cordrazine as the Enterprise encounters turbulence. He beams down to an unexplored world where he enters a time-travel device known as the Guardian of Forever and changes history in the 1930s. Kirk and Spock also return to the 30s, where Kirk falls in love with peace activist Edith Keeler. When McCoy is finally located, Kirk must allow history to run its course, resulting in Edith’s death, or he will leave history altered irrevocably, with no chance of returning to the future or the Enterprise.

Stardate 3287.2: The Enterprise witnesses a smaller ship diving into the sun of Deneva under the control of a pilot who seems to have intentionally killed himself. This confirms Kirk’s worst fears, that a seemingly contagious outbreak of insanity on several other worlds has spread to Deneva, where his brother lives. On the surface, many are found to be dead – including Kirk’s brother – and an unknown species of alien parasite is found to be responsible. In trying to gather data on them, Spock is attacked and taken over by one, and, like the people of Deneva and several other planets, starts to go mad. Spock’s condition also presents McCoy with the first opportunity to learn more about both the creature and its victim, and Spock may have to die if the crew is to learn any more about the creatures to prevent them from spreading further into human territory.

written by Steven W. Carabatsos
directed by Herschel Daugherty
music by Alexander Courage

Notes: Craig Hundley appeared again in Star Trek’s third season before embarking on a career as a musician; he would go on to create (and play) an unusual instrument called the Blaster Beam, whose distinctive sound was used heavily in the first two Star Trek films.

Stardate 3372.7: Spock begins acting strange – even violent – as, unknown to the rest of the crew, he enters the Vulcan mating phase that strikes adult male Vulcans every seven years. Kirk must divert the Enterprise from a tight schedule to return Spock to Vulcan so his mating ritual may be carried out. But on arriving, it is discovered that Spock must compete with a gladiator of his prospective mate’s choice – and that turns out, on the spur of the moment, to be Kirk.

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